Planes

The primary function of Planes might be to push toys and other merchandise as part of some fast-food restaurant promotional tie-ins.

Otherwise, this authorized knockoff of the animated Cars franchise is pretty derivative of those films, opening up the likelihood that anthropomorphic trains or boats can’t be far behind.

Once again, the story follows an unassuming young vehicle with dreams of making it big in the racing world. In this case, it’s a crop-dusting plane known as Dusty Crophopper (voiced by Dane Cook), who deep down is a thrill-seeker who aspires to break free from his mundane small-town routine.

After training with his ragtag group of mechanic friends, Dusty becomes a surprise qualifier for the Wings Around the Globe aerial race, which makes him both a working-class hero and the object of ridicule from some of his faster and more experienced competitors, who are convinced Dusty will fail. Before racing, however, Dusty relies on the advice of a cranky old military plane (Stacy Keach) to help cure his fear of heights.

The best animated films, especially in today’s crowded marketplace, need to appeal to both children and adults to have staying power. While kids might respond to the fast-paced airborne antics here, the humor isn’t clever enough or the story surprising enough to satisfy accompanying grown-ups.

They might try to pick out some of the voices for the quirky batch of winged and wheeled characters among a cast that includes John Cleese, Cedric the Entertainer, Val Kilmer and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

The animation is crisp, even if director Klay Hall seems to squander the film’s 3D potential, given that animated airplanes in flight would seem to be an ideal fit for the format.

Meanwhile, the innocuous script by Jeffrey Howard tosses in the expected broad gags that come with a globetrotting adventure with stops on every continent (although someone should tell him that air-traffic controllers at New York’s JFK airport don’t actually sound like John F. Kennedy himself).

There are some scattered amusing moments. But overall, the film — with its predictable underdog story and obvious lessons about following your dreams — has trouble getting off the ground.

Rated PG, 92 minutes.